The Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, more commonly known as the Oscars, are just a month away and the nominations have just been released. If you are eager to find out who has been nominated in each category, you can get all the information on the official Oscars website.

Who do you reckon is going to take home the award for Best Leading Actor? Who are going to place your money on for Best Actress? Which film do you think is going to sweep the board this year? Who do you think doesn't stand a chance of winning anything? Do you think Penelope can bring home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for a second year in a row? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with me. Or, even better, if you have seen one of the films which have been nominated this year, why not write us a review and tell us all about it. I haven't seen any of this year's films and would love to hear your rave reviews. Of course, if you wish to pan the nominated films - that is fine too!

Don't be shy! This is great practice for those of you who are preparing for the Cambridge Exams!

(To help you writing your review check out this entry from 2008)

More Links for Autonomous Learning

A colleague of mine has set up a new website for students of English as a foreign language. It is called Aulablc and it contains links to other sites where you can practise your English online. Interesting links and activities are organized according to level making the site very easy to use. There are FCE and CAE sections on the site which are particularly interesting for students who wish to sit a Cambridge examination in the near future. So, when you have a spare moment, check out Alistair's new site, www.aulablc.com !

English Exams

In three weeks some of you will be sitting an exam in English, either the Cambridge First Certificate, the Advanced or the Proficiency. Hopefully, you will pass this exam with flying colours! (If you fail it though, you can always resit it at a later date). However, I hope that everyone is successful and to help you study and revise for these upcoming exams I have found a few links to websites that can help with exam preparation.

Cambridge ESOL > > > (This is the official site for the Cambridge exams where you can find out general information about the exams and what is expected of you and you can download practice papers.)

Flo-Joe > > > (This website contains advice and practice for all parts and levels of the Cambridge Exams. A lot of the site is free of charge but if you want to have full access you will have to pay a subscription fee.)

Splendid Speaking > > > (This website aims to help you with Paper 5, the oral test. It contains useful phrases and vocabulary, tips and podcasts of people doing speaking tasks with tapescripts and comments.)

Fullspate > > > (This site has some tips and set phrases to help you improve your writing in Paper 2 of the FCE and the CPE, although it is also worth a look if you are doing the CAE.)

Hope this helps! Happy studying and lots of luck in June!